Saturday, November 2, 2013

With “leaders” like Jerry Kassar around, voting is not enough

Kassar, not a Republican, has spent his political life trying to whipsaw the GOP, and the people who believe-in and support the Republican Party, between winning and losing efforts   —   Why ?  To aggrandize himself and his so-called “Conservative Party” 



In addition to Kassar’s paying “day job” of being the “Chief of Staff” to the silver-haired  State Senator Martin Golden, who becomes more tarnished every day, and his real “full-time” job of being the Kings County Chairman of the Conservative Party and an executive member of the NYS Conservative Party, Jerry Kassar also writes a weekly column for the Home Reporter and related publications.

Given his recent frenzy for various candidates, I certainly thought that Jerry Kassar’s  pre-election week piece should have been full of stem-winding political prose. I was wrong. Instead, he opened with four short paragraphs about “Obamacare.”  Clearly, the material needed serious analysis and criticism from a “conservative” perspective.  What Kassar provided was something about as long as a Jay Leno or David Letterrman joke in their nightly monologues, but without the humor ( Everybody knows what happens whenever Kassar tries humor....); unfortunately, there was no recognizable analysis, and Kassar obviously hoped that his cynicism would pass for criticism (See “Common Sense: The glitch by Jerry Kassar, 10/28/13, Home Reporter/ Sunset Park News [http://www.homereporternews.com/opinion/columnists/common-sense-the-glitch/article_3baeb166-401a-11e3-b142-0019bb2963f4.html]).

After a three asterisk break, Kassar launched into what I  have to guess was his PITCH for the Republican-Conservative Candidate for Mayor, Joseph Lhota.

I’m sorry, but I think I could have done a better job pitching Kassar’s and Long’s handpicked mayoral candidate on their Conservative Party line  —  and I haven’t even decided yet whether I’m going to support the Republican-Conservative Lhota, instead of the social conservative in the race, Erick Salgado, who is  running on the School Choice line.

Maybe, Kassar is no pitchman. After all, last week I criticized him for his less than rousing support and/or endorsement for his chosen candidate for City Council from the 43rd District, John Quaglione, who also happens to be Kassar’s longtime colleague and office-mate.

Kassar started off well enough for Lhota with this: “When all is said and done Joe Lhota made essentially three important arguments for his election – crime, taxes and experience.”

So the first point is CRIME, right ?   WRONG !   Kassar’s first and strongest argument for Lhota is that “Joe’s theme has been ‘ready on day one.’  Based on his background as a former deputy mayor, city budget director and MTA head, it seems like a logical conclusion.” From there Kassar went off on a snarky diversion about deBlasio being in the Dinkin’s administration during the Crown Heights riots. It would have been better if Kassar explained why Lhota’s prior positions made him ready to be mayor on day one. After all, the NYC mayors for the last twenty years, Giuliani and Bloomberg, never held any of those positions.  —   As a matter of fact, can Kassar name anybody who has been elected mayor who had ever held any of those positions ?

Then Kassar finally got to the crime argument. “Lhota makes several points on crime, with the most vivid being that we could turn the city back to the Dinkins years when the city was far less safe.” Who remembers what that means, exactly ?  Don’t worry about it, Kassar quickly shifted into a rant against deBlasio’s “...ACLU type criminal-coddling proposals”; and with Kenneth Thompson’s being the Brooklyn DA, something that Kassar seemed to have taken for granted, and according to Kassar, “together [with deBlasio]... something very real ... we might have to worry about.” Check it out: it all makes about as much sense in the original Kassar column.

The tax argument was this: deBlasio will raise property taxes. That’s Kassar’s specialty; he’s a pencil and numbers kind of guy  —  not bad at cross-word puzzles and Sudoku, either.

But all of that was just a lead up for Kassar’s closing the sale for Joe Lhota to be our next mayor: his stentorian peroration was as follows: “...[V]oters need to have a laser focus on the issues.  Both candidates have spoken on them many times.  And there is clearly a world of difference. ***   So take the time to review their positions and make an informed decision before you walk into that polling site.  And most of all, do come out and vote.”

Sometimes, voting is not enough. After Tuesday, Republicans who care about the GOP in New York City and State need to purge themselves of people like Kassar and  the Conservative Party.  —   And  part of that will entail selective purges inside the now quite misnamed  “Conservative Party”  —   sort of doing to them what they have been doing to the GOP for years.

Kassar is not a Republican and spends altogether too much time involved in GOP politics. Occasionally, it is beneficial to the Republican Party or its candidates; as often as not, it is part of some arcane Byzantine deal with no direct benefit to most local Republicans. Sometimes, like 2013, it involves direct interference in the internal workings of the local Republican organization, sowing discord, denigrating good Republicans and advancing the interests of unworthy Republicans that have shown more loyalty to Kassar's Conservative Party.

Btw,  one  more thing needs to be said   —   Kassar’s pitch for John Quaglione was far better than the one for Lhota.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rumor is Kassar and Castimides are meeting for dinner on Sunday.

Beware of food shortages on election day

Anonymous said...

There are laws in NYS about party officials manipulating other party politics.
The Conservative party had this problem 30 years ago in the US Senate Republican primary. The Conservative party settled several lawsuits.
Now Conservative party leaders are conspiring with democrats to run the Republican party to the fate of the Whigs.

Anonymous said...

If Starobin or Quaglione win it could not have been possible without the Conservative party.

Galewyn Massey said...

Not if it didn't exist.

The Conservative Party does't bring anything to the table -- it can only take a little something away. Look at their actual numbers

Like the Liberal Party, the Conservatives are a leverage party. Take away the leverage with a right wing "Working Families Party" and the Conservatives go the way of the Liberal Party.

Anonymous said...

When the right to life party fielded candidates it cost republicans votes.

Anonymous said...

Kassar bought the insurance on GOP building, and now he is torching it.

Galewyn Massey said...

All parallel third parties "cost" the Republican Party votes off its line.

The question is do third parties, like the Conservatives, add any votes to Republican candidates' totals, or even any individual Republican candidate's bottom line.

Anonymous said...

Predictions:

Lhota 30% (Lose)
Hynes 40% (Lose)

Quaglione 40% (Lose)
Hayon 25% (Lose)
Testaverde 25% (Lose)
Sullivan 30% (Lose)
Storobin 42% (Lose)

Anonymous said...

My Predictions:

Lhota 29% (Lose)
Hynes 36% (Two Time Loser)

Quaglione 38% (End of Bay Ridge Republicans)
Hayon 28% (Lose)
Testaverde 24% (Lose)
Sullivan 26% (Lose)
Starobin 49% (Win)

Galewyn Massey said...

Anybody actually willing to make some book on some of these "bets" ?

Anonymous said...

I'll make a bet that Hynes does not crack 30%.
The average R & C candidate gets 22%.
Add the fact that Hynes has been tagged as running a racist campaign by MSM and thats going to double his vote?
I think not.

Anonymous said...

Me and my McDonald ave irregulars have a pool.

Galewyn Massey said...

A lot of people would like some of that action. Hynes is a lock-and-a-half to beat 30%....

Anonymous said...

When was the last time the Brooklyn GOP had this many candidates that could get close to or surpass 30%?

Been a long time.

Kudos to Chairman Eaton and his team.

Galewyn Massey said...

2010....

Of course you meant in a Municipal election year, didn't you....

Anonymous said...

2010 can only be considered if you remove the seats that republicans are usually competitive in. Although there were a few assembly candidates that did better than expected (2010 was great for republicans nationwide), Grimm, Golden, and Malliotakis ran in districts that had been republican seats in recent cycles.

I stand by the comment above. Municipal election year or not this is impressive. Especially when you consider that the top of this municipal slate will likely under-perform when compared to the GOP candidates appearing below him on the ballot.

This is exactly why Golden et al. want to change things back to the way they were. Eaton has created a climate where no democrat can cut a deal and be safe for long.

Anonymous said...

In addition to the 3 wins, Republican Assembly candidates in 45, 47, 48 and 49 - all who were supported by the County - all broke 30 in 2010. This when the 46th - with Golden's handpicked Republicans for Change leadership - chose not to run anyone against the Democrat incumbent.

Anonymous said...

http://brooklyngopradio.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-it-was-very-good-year.html